WINONA, Minn. — Don't try to talk about the 2004 baseball season to Nick Whaley — the Saint Mar's University head coach has forgotten all about it.

Every little detail of that 10-22 season has been wiped from his memory banks.

No, Whaley did not suffer from a serve case of amnesia — he's just not about to dwell on the past, but rather look to the future.

A future that most certainly can be brighter than the recent past.

"It's a brand new year — good or bad, it's a brand new year," said Whaley. "We've got great seniors who are good, solid people and great leaders, and everyone is excited about the challenges that are in front of us."

The biggest of which is improving on that 10-22 overall record.

"That's yesterday's box score," Whaley said. "We're not about to worry about what's in the past, we're not worried about yesterday's box scores, we're worried about the box scores we're going to create today and in the future."

Whaley is so insistent on keeping his team focused on the present and not the past, that in his post-season letter to his players, he wrote, "It would be easy to look back upon the (2004) year and find the negative. However, I choose to look upon the year as a difficult learning experience and an invitation for positive change."

And from everything Whaley has seen thus far, the players have accepted the invitation.

"I've very pleased with the effort, the energy and the quality of play I've seen thus far," he said. "We have the potential to be better as a group, to be better as a team than we have been the past couple of years."

To do that, however, the Cardinals will have to fill the void left by the six graduated seniors — including two-time All-MIAC and All-Region selection Tony Cicalello.

"We lost some talented individuals, no question about that," said Whaley, who will still have Cicalello's services this year, only this time as an assistant coach, rather than an infielder. "But we've got a lot of veterans returning, and we've added some solid freshmen, so I think we will be OK."

For SMU to be OK, however, Whaley is going to need solid performances from a number of those returners, including seniors Matt Rink (Rochester, Minn. / .327 BA, 23 R, 33 H, 8 2B, 4 HR, 22 RBIs), Ryan Majerus (St. Charles, Minn. / .280 BA, 26 H, 7 2B, 10 RBIs), Jose Rueda (Winona, Minn. / ..294 BA), Pat Gornick (West St. Paul, Minn. / .300 BA, 5 2B, 6.48 ERA, 41.2 IP, 24 Ks), Pat Jacobsen (Stillwater, Minn. / .207 BA, 3 2B) and Jesse Pedersen (St. Charles, Minn. / 2-3, 7.06 ERA, 43.1 IP, 30 Ks).

"I think that last year and the struggles we had will help to motivate our returners to be a better team this year," said Whaley. "I think we will be better prepared to handle adversity — and we had a lot last year — because of what we went through a year ago, and I'm excited about what the future holds."